


Missing Something, Someone

by garfunkle



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, Hotel OJ (Inanimate Insanity), fan being an epic friend, lightbulb is mentioned, paintbrush just misses their friend :[
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garfunkle/pseuds/garfunkle
Summary: Paintbrush misses their friend. There are only a few ways one could go about fixing this.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Missing Something, Someone

Hotel OJ at night was next to dead silent. Not a soul was stirring, except Tissues of course, who could often be heard snoring quite loudly during the night. All the other residents would complain to OJ, but despite their efforts he wasn’t very interested in stopping this. If OJ could handle all of these loose-screwed children in adult bodies every second of his life, he figured the Hotel’s residents could deal with a bit of what he called “background noise”.

Paintbrush highly disagreed with that notion, as they currently lied in their bed trying to drift into slumber. Alas, Tissues being their “neighbour” made sleeping a tad bit harder to come by.

If that wasn’t enough, Fan’s constant sleep talking was sure to keep Paintbrush up for hours. As much as they appreciated his presence, sometimes his constant ramblings about his interests (more often than not being the show and the many specifics of how its made) could be quite overbearing. This would become even worse when Test Tube, the newest Hotel resident, would be invited to the room to talk about other interests that Paintbrush didn’t care much to remember. Sometimes they’d even have movie nights watching some sort of cartoon that, once again, Paintbrush couldn’t remember for the life of them. They would never tell him this however, because whenever he did openly talk about his “hyper fixations”, he seemed happy.

Paintbrush, as much as they hated to admit, partly enjoyed having Fan dump word vomit into the still air. They specifically appreciated it when they would paint. It always helped them concentrate when someone was there to balance things, to distract them from thoughts and keep them focused enough to enjoy their craft. Sort of like Lightbulb always did...

They grumbled in annoyance as they turned over, putting their extra pillow over their head in an attempt to block out the sounds. As they did this, they were met face to face with a familiar red crustacean.

“Oh, hey there buddy,” they whispered, sounding a bit more raspy than they’d expected.

Baxter blinked one, twice, and gave his claws a quiet snap. Paintbrush considered trying to sleep again, but they felt as if they needed some comfort. As absurd as it sounded, talking to Baxter was often just what they needed. Someone who was there to listen, but didn’t need to respond.

“You know...” Paintbrush sighed, quieting down as much as they could in order to not disturb their roommate who was currently sound asleep.

“Sometimes I just...,” they continued, rubbing their eyes and rolling onto their back, “I really miss her.”

Paintbrush wasn’t even sure why they were saying these things, its not as if Baxter could verbally respond. And they knew that, but it was better than lying in bed with their head full of thoughts.

But, sure enough, the crab crawled over to the other end of the bed where a particular image in a picture frame sat. Hopping onto the nightstand, he scuttled beside the picture and pointed with one of his claws to Lightbulb in the image.

Paintbrush sat there, a bit confused as to if they were dreaming, or if Baxter had genuinely understood what they were saying.

“You miss her too, don’t you?” They quietly acknowledged, sitting up and reaching for Baxter to crawl back onto the bed.

He merely walked onto their hand, and looked at them before blinking several times. Dreaming or not, Paintbrush felt much better knowing Baxter felt the same as them.

Lightbulb was, for lack of a better term, the brightness they so frequently needed in their life. Sure she could be a bit much sometimes, and maybe her “quirks” could get in the way of simple tasks, but they missed it. Lightbulb would cheer others on and bring good ideas to the table, and Paintbrush would ground her and keep the team focused. They worked well together, even if it took them awhile to realize it.

They only wish they’d been more appreciative of her. She was a great friend. She understood Paintbrush and respected them. Besides, she was the first person they told about...

Paintbrush sighed again, the sigh slowly turning into a grumble of some sort. This time, it was a lot louder than they’d intended. Or at least, it must have been loud, because they heard Fan starting to stir.

“Huh?” He mumbled, snapping out of his resting state.

Well that confirmed it, Paintbrush definitely wasn’t dreaming. Setting Baxter down beside them, they turned towards where their roommate yawned.

“Oh, Paintbrush...” Fan rubbed his tired eyes, sitting up as well in an effort to level with them. He looked around the dark room, seemingly just realizing how late it must have been.

“You’re... awake...? Oh no, did my sleep talking wake you up again, because if thats the case I profusely apolog-“

“No, Fan its fine, really. Just- keep it down maybe?” Paintbrush harshly whispered, attempting to lower Fan’s tone. They really didn’t want any complaints to OJ about this.

“Right, right- sorry,” He said, quieting down to a whisper, “but if i’m not the reason you’re awake, what is it?” He looked genuinely curious, fidgeting with his hands and awaiting a response.

They said nothing at first, they only looked away with uncertainty.

“Is something bothering you...?”

Was Paintbrush really going to tell Fan of all people about their problems? Knowing him, he might not stop bugging them about it if they didn’t fess up now.

“Well I guess I just-“ they breathed in and out slowly, trying to ease the tension they currently felt. Fan patiently sat in silence, tilting his head ever so slightly.

“I sort of wish I could see Lightbulb again, maybe its stupid but...,” they were going to continue, but Fan interrupted them mid thought.

“Its not stupid, Paintbrush... I mean trust me, I’ve- I felt the exact same thing, y’know? We’ve all experienced missing someone. It’s sort of an instinct reaction to- to miss someone you haven’t seen in awhile.” While Fan’s reply was genuine and they appreciated it, Paintbrush felt this was different. They sighed for what they felt like was the 5th time that evening, and thought about a response.

“I get that but... It’s not that simple. It almost feels... As if I’ve temporarily lost part of myself. I mean we, in a way, would bounce off each other and help each other keep it together. And missing that feels much worse than I thought it might.” Fan made a hum of understanding, clearly urging them to go on. Paintbrush wasn’t sure how much more they could say, but they sat there for what felt like minutes in silence as other thoughts filled their head.

“I just really miss seeing her, and hearing her stupid jokes, her nonsensical humour that often makes absolutely no sense but still manages to make things better...” Paintbrush rested their hands by their sides, head swimming with thoughts of Lightbulb. They really missed their bright and bubbly friend. More silence filled the room, as Fan worriedly rubbed the back of his head.

Paintbrush didn’t want to continue talking about this further. They needed sleep, to forget about all of this, about this conversation in general.

They hated feeling sensitive around others.

“Well I mean erm, not to say you wont get in trouble but- have you thought of leaving Hotel OJ...?” Fan replied, voice wary and much quieter than before. Paintbrush’s eyes widened at this, and they stayed quiet to let fan continue.

“I mean I know its a bit risky and... MePad is sorta strict with certain contestants leaving and entering the shows parameters, but I was there and I wasn’t shunned away. Then again I was immediately abducted by egg creatures that happened to be aliens...”

Of course, leaving must have been possible. Fan had recently gone into the shows area and tried to reason with Test Tube.

He didn’t get in trouble per say, but when Fan arrived back with Test Tube OJ was a tad crossed with him for the rest of that day.

It was worth a shot. To see Lightbulb would surely calm their anxieties of missing something, of feeling lost and needing the comfort of their friend.

It wouldn’t be a big deal, right? They only wanted to see their friend again.

“I’ve thought about it before, but... I’m not sure its entirely worth it. I wouldn’t want to risk getting her eliminated just because my stupid thoughts wouldn’t give me a break. The show means a lot to her.”

“Paintbrush, I’m sure Lightbulb cares a lot more about her friends than the show. I mean look at me, I’m pretty infatuated with this whole reality show as a whole, and I still care much more about the people around me,” he continued, voice sounding a lot more confident in his advice, “she cares, I know she does. She must miss you too.” Fan was about to finish talking when he looked to Baxter, his beady eyes staring right back at him.

“Baxter too of course, I mean who am I kidding? You’re not the only one feeling this way, Paintbrush. Trust me, it’s reasonable and completely normal.”

Paintbrush didn’t exactly know what to say. They felt a lot better than they’d expected they would. They tried to think of an elaborate response, a few words of gratitude, but they couldn’t seem to get anything out. The only thing they could think of in the moment was

“Thank you Fan, I appreciate that. I really do,” Paintbrush replied, hoping their smile could be heard in their voice. They heard Fan lightly chuckle from the other side of the room, seemingly baffled at their genuine thankfulness.

“Of course, what kind of roommate would I be if I didn’t listen to ya? You already have to hear me blabber on about nonsense, I figure this is a fair transaction.” Paintbrush smiled once again, laying down into their pillow to get at least an hour of sleep in.

“I’m glad you opened up to me, Paintbrush,” They heard Fan whisper, feeling a tad guilty for not being as talkative with their fellow roommate. Maybe they’d have to start talking with him more.

“Goodnight Fan,” they said, rolling back over to face the orange wall of their room. Fan didn’t reply, it seemed as if he had already fallen back asleep.

Paintbrush was once again alone with their thoughts.

Was it worth it? Leaving Hotel OJ just to converse with Lightbulb? To see her again? Frankly, Paintbrush wasn’t quite sure.

They’d have to think on it more.

**Author's Note:**

> so inanimate insanity is my new hyper fixation oh gosh  
> wrote this at like 1 am cause the idea hit me and i wanted to start writing right away  
> i have a lot of story ideas,, prolly gonna write a story with marshmallow and apple next :D  
> an e ways ye! i love these characters, i really relate to paintbrush and fan so Boom fic with them both in it  
> oh also! this is mostly inspired by brian koch implying that paintbrush might leave hotel OJ or somethin,,, and also the fact that they seemed sad in ep 14 when saying “wait fan, we cant just leave! can we...?”  
> i hope lightbulb and paintbrush can reunite and talk again! they’re epic  
> anyways yeah i’ll stop rambling, hope u enjoyed this short lil story thing


End file.
